


Terminal

by The_Ol_Razzle_Dazzle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bus, M/M, New Year's Eve, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, Tension, Tom Riddle is His Own Warning, Waiting for the bus, and fails, harry tries to make conversation, honestly this started as a joke fic, idk what else to put here, the homoerotisism of waiting with someone for the bus, tom is bitchy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:28:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22394029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Ol_Razzle_Dazzle/pseuds/The_Ol_Razzle_Dazzle
Summary: Waiting for the bus at New Years Eve has proven to be much more interesting than Harry could  ever think. Having a hot but annoying person sit next to you  definetely puts things into perspective.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Comments: 25
Kudos: 281





	Terminal

Of course, he was going to be late today of all days.

His alarm did not go off in time and when he did wake up he had to face the traffic that awaited for him in the road to the bus station, it was New Year’s Eve after all. He tried cutting from a road he knew but that did nothing to quicken his driving. The station seemed to be millions of light years away and not only half an hour as his stupid GPS insisted it was.

He thanked the lord Hermione had decided to nag him into buying a ticket beforehand so at least he would not lose time there. Parking already proved to be a big waste of time. He parked as far from the station’s gates as humanly possible, grabbed his sac voyage and another bag and sprinted towards the building.

After almost pushing down an old woman and bumping into an equally hurrying person, he managed to get to the platform without any further dramatics. He checked the watch on his wrist. He still had thirty minutes before the bus came. He let out a sigh of relief and threw his body into one the empty iron chairs, ignoring the pain that came from the contact when he fell on the uncomfortable by design chair.

Harry debated with himself whether he should just put in his headphones from now, or save battery for the trip when a figure threw itself down the seat next to him with quite the strength making him jump in his seat, eyes behind glasses wide with surprise.

With a frown that was not previously there, he turned around to face the person causing a havoc, only to find the most beautiful man he had ever seen seating there.

The man was typing away on his phone, his perfect brows brought into a scowl, a curl from his hair falling almost perfectly on his forehead obscuring a bit of his as far as Harry could see beautiful face. He wore a dark gray coat with a green turtleneck underneath and his shoes looked like they cost as much as Harry’s monthly salary. Harry suddenly felt self-conscious over his thick Christmas sweater, worn out jeans and old boots.

After what felt like years to him, the man finally felt Harry’s eyes on him and slowly lifted his stare from the phone only to glare at him.

“Can I help you with something?” Came the silky but obviously irritated voice from the man next to him.

Harry stayed gaping at him like an idiot before he finally decided to mutter something that he hoped was somehow coherent.

“N-no, sorry I was just looking at how frustrated you were…I can relate. Traffic is insane these days! You’d wonder why people are out on New Year’s Eve.” He tried to turn it into a joke but judging from the unimpressed expression on the man’s face the joke had not landed very well.

He did grace him with an answer though.

“Well of course I am frustrated. I have to travel with these horrible filthy busses along with people who are equally filthy and annoying. “He pushed the last word and Harry felt like it was a personal jab to him.

That of course didn’t stop him. He did have half an hour in front of him and didn’t want to waste battery. Talking to this prat could possibly entertain him for a bit.

“I see… I mean the bus isn’t the fanciest travelling transportation but I am sure it could have been worse.” He said and tried to give the man a weak smile. Earning a huff in return and the man went back to typing furiously on his phone.

Harry should have taken the hint and stopped the one-sided conversation there but his eyes guided him to the two huge expensive looking suitcases surrounding the man next to him. The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“Oh shit these look expensive. “

That drew the man’s attention back to him and Harry wanted nothing more but to find a hole and fall inside.

“They are actually. Another reason to not drag them into this ridiculous place.” Said the man and went to turn back to his phone.

“Why even take the bus if you hate it so much? You don’t strike me as the person who settles for the cheapest option. “Harry really didn’t know why he kept trying to make conversation at that point. Maybe he liked punishing himself.

To his surprise, the man left his phone aside, giving Harry a halfhearted excuse of a smile.

“You are right, I don’t settle for the cheapest option but certain events caused this shit to happen to me right now.” He said and somehow managed to smile while saying it, though his smile never reached his eyes.

Harry, taken aback by the curse, honestly, you would expect some people would not curse, could only raise an eyebrow in response. That obviously wasn’t enough, as the man didn’t continue so he prompted him a bit further.

“I see…so what made you go to-" he looked at the sign next to his own “Canterbury?” That seemed like a weird destination for someone like the man.

A long-suffering sigh was heard and for a moment and Harry was afraid that would be the only answer he would get. However, the man kept going.

“Business. Or well...”he looked down at his phone with a frown as if debating something. “Or I guess friend stuff… it’s complicated, came out of the blue, didn’t really expect it so I didn’t manage to book a ticket for the train.”

“Oh…I am sorry, hope no one is sick or anything…” Harry said, it didn’t look like the man wanted to explain his situation any further and he could only think about the Christmas he had when he had to travel to another country for his mom’s surgery. Maybe this was a similar situation.

“What? No, no, nothing like that. They are all very much healthy; it’s me who might not be the same after this trip.” He paused “My friend is having a new year’s get together and invited me over.”

“Oh. Well that is...somewhat nice? I mean I also got invited by some friends!” he said and pointed at a big bag full of treats he had gotten for the Weasley family. He insisted on getting them “real" presents this year but he got shut down pretty quickly.

“We are seven people Harry dear, you can’t spend your money to get us all gifts, we don’t need them!” said Miss Weasley when he brought it up through the phone. “Eight if you count Fleur!” a voice said somewhere in the distance, Harry guessed it was one of the twins.

“Right ,right eight , how could I forget..” Miss Weasley muttered under her breath “but as I said gifts are unnecessary just bring yourself, it’s a gift enough dear.”

The man gave his pack of presents a strange look before continuing.

“I suppose it wouldn’t be under normal circumstances, however, “he paused and pointed at his bags “I was supposed to fly to Berlin today instead but I had to cancel my plans for this.” He said and frowned even deeper as if the mere thought of his plan change made him furious.

“Wow, I’ve barely been out of my city much less the country!” Harry said cheerfully and immediately regretted it as he saw the mocking grin on the other man’s face.

“Somehow this doesn’t surprise me.” The man said and had the audacity to chuckle. Harry could feel his ears getting red from the embarrassment.

“Yeah ha-ha, not all of us have the luxury to go celebrate New Year’s at other countries.”

“Well I wouldn’t call it a celebration, I was going there for work but my, well my “friend"...” Harry had never been able to hear so obvious quotations around a word before. “Said she needed me to be at her dinner for moral support … couldn’t say no to that.”

It was Harry’s turn to grin. “Somehow I can’t see you doing that.”

The stranger raised an eyebrow at him, a hint of a smirk on his lips.

“Already psychoanalyzed me huh?”

“Oh no! I just…well you-“he almost bit his tongue there “you don’t seem like a person I’d call for moral support.”

“I suppose not. I wouldn’t call me for that either…but desperate times call for desperate solutions I guess.”

“Oh...” Harry really had a way with words when needed.

“Yes. Oh.” Replied the man bitterly and went back to his phone.

Moments of silence passed and Harry was hoping his bus would come already to get him away from whatever awkward situation listening to someone angrily typing away at his phone was. But before he could bring the big guns out and pray to Jesus to save him the man spoke again.

“These are quite a lot of presents…seeing family?”

Harry blinked at him, completely disassociating before getting back on track.

“Wha- oh no! I mean yes…well, it is complicated. They are like family...but not really related…I don’t know if that makes sense.” He said and looked at the man’s face hoping he didn’t make himself look like an even bigger moron with that explanation.

“I understand…” the man nodded as if to say that “Yes, you blabbering fool you did pass your point across" and looked at his hands, a soft expression passing his face.

“The friend I am seeing is kind of like that too.” He said, a small smile tagging at his thin lips.

The intrusive thought of how would this lips taste came into his mind and Harry felt like dumbing into a pool full of bleach. Why did his brain decide to be so embarrassing at times like these?

“W-well that’s nice, glad we both understand how found family works Mr.…” He plastered a confident smile on his face as he posed the indirect question even though he felt like he was sweating buckets. Was the station always this warm? It must be his sweater.

“Riddle. Well Tom Riddle. You can just call me Tom.” The man, that Harry now knew as Tom said.

“Tom...” Harry worked his mouth around the name. Simple just like his but he felt like it suited the man quite a lot.

“And yours?” Came the voice and Harry felt taken aback. Was not aware the mysterious stranger would be interested enough to ask him his name.

“Harry! Um- Potter. Harry Potter!” He finished trying to put an end to that misery of a dialogue.

“Harry Potter…” Tom said and Harry tried his best not to smile at the sound of his voice when he said his name.

“Just Harry is fine!” He let out before managing his voice, sure, he ended up sounding way more like a squeal than intended. The amused look on Tom’s face confirmed his suspicions. He wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole.

“Well all right then...Just Harry, it was nice meeting you.” Tom said, obviously holding himself back from laughing. Harry felt the need to disappear even more intense than previously.

“Y-yeah it was nice meeting you t-"

“Bus at platform three for Portsmouth is leaving in four minutes!” The loud announcement came and muffled half of Harry’s words. Annoyed at the shrill voice of the announcement woman he almost doesn’t notice she just said his bus was leaving. Almost.

“AH fuck!” he jumps out of his seat, his brain in full on panic mode. He frantically tries to put on his jacket and fails miserably, not being able to find the armhole. Shit why is everything so difficult suddenly.

“I am guessing they just called for your bus?” Came the smooth voice next to him and a hand on his shoulder helping him into his jacket. Harry could feel his face starting to burn up. Tom’s face up close was even prettier than he could imagine.

“Y-yes! Ah – I am sorry I have to go now or-" he fumbled with his sentence as he fumbled with the strings of his bag. Thankfully, he could take both of his bags upstairs with him and hope they don’t fall on anyone’s heads.

“It’s quite alright Harry, let me help you with the bags. “

“Wha-?” Harry stopped fighting with his bag and turned around to find Tom walking towards the bus, the bag full of presents for the Wesley’s in his arms. Harry quickly caught up with him.

“No, no Tom you don’t have to!” he pleaded, trying to extract the bag from the man’s hands. Somehow, he felt like Tom’s acts of kindness didn’t come without some sort of price and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what his fee would be.

“Nonsense. Now come on you’ll miss the bus.” Tom said and almost strutted towards the waiting bus as if he owned it. Harry run after him once more.

After desperately trying to find his ticket, receiving judgmental stares from the driver, the ticket checking person and some people on the bus, Harry was ready to board on the bus.

He turned to Tom who was obviously trying his best to also not judge Harry’s mess of a bag, (honestly how do you even find anything in there) and gave him a smile that surely reached his eyes. He did feel closer to the man somehow.

“Thanks for the help I-" he started saying but was quickly cut off.

“You owe me your number yes.” Tom said as if it was the obvious choice of words for that situation.

“W-what?” Harry went red as soon as his mind registered what Tom had said. Even the exasperated sound the driver made didn’t faze him at that moment. He watched as Tom reached into the inner pocket of his coat, pulling out a small card and handing it to him. Harry took it mechanically, not sure, what was happening.

“Here. Text me if the bus has Wi-Fi.” He said and sent Harry a charming smile that managed to make him even more handsome. Honestly, could this man stop?

“ Will do…” he mumbled awkwardly, sure that his face reassembled a tomato rather than anything else and quickly got in the bus, under the stink eye of the driver, quickly finding his seat and sitting down.

Looking out from the window of his seat he, found Tom standing there looking right at him with a smile, lazily waving his hand at him. Harry couldn’t help but wave back, perhaps more enthusiastically than it was proper in that situation, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. A random encounter managed to take the stress that’s been piling up all holidays in an instant.

The bus did indeed have Wi-Fi and Harry gave the card he was given a proper look. It had the image of a snake coming out of a cup on it, Tom’s full name (who names their kid Marvolo?) along with a phone number and an email. Harry fought with himself for about three minutes before deciding that if he didn’t talk to Tom again he would regret it.

He typed in Tom’s number and stayed ten more minutes thinking about what to text. After his fingers danced the mambo on top of the touchscreen, he finally managed to find the courage to press the send button.

_To: unknown number_

**_‘Hey! The bus had Wi-Fi! Ps: it’s harry btw’_ **

He looked at his phone and waited until he got weird stares from the person next to him to put it away. He really should not stress over this. Tom was the one that gave him his number anyways. It is fine if he didn’t get an immediate response back. He could wait. He was a patient person.

Twenty minutes later Harry could say that he was not a patient person. He kept checking his phone and sighing when nothing popped on screen. The cycle repeated until a slight buzz was heard coming from the phone.

The phone buzzing made his heart jump in a way he would never admit aloud. Harry unlocked it and clicked on the message only to burst into giggles, earning more angry stares from the people around but honestly, he could not be blamed.

The message was a photo of Tom looking unimpressed as he was seated next to a rather large man who was obviously taking most of their shared space and seemed to be sleeping peacefully with headphones on. Harry could almost see the murderous tint hiding in Tom’s eyes.

 ** _‘I hate busses. ‘_** Was the following message.

Something told him that he wouldn’t bump into Tom at a station any time soon

**Author's Note:**

> This was made through the holidays and finished now...so there ya go! it was made as a bday present for my dear friend as a joke fic but I changed some things around to make it more serious and share it with the public! As always I appreciate all your comments and reviews! <3


End file.
